Poem: Cage

This poem I wrote for a college class at Rider University.  I was twenty (this was shortly after my sister took me to Disney World as a 21st birthday gift during Spring Break, which has nothing to do with the poem.  Just a random memory from that time).  The class was "The Poem" where we read poetry and wrote poetry.  I loved it!  The professor, Dr. Maynard was a really nice woman who had a real passion for literature and was a great poet in her own right.  She was just one of those professors who had a positive energy, a pleasant demeanor, and a sharp mind.  She memorized many famous poems.  Dr. Maynard even told the class about her son reciting Blake's "Tyger Tyger burning bright", from Songs of Innocence and of Experience, freaking out his elementary teacher. 

Anyway, I digress!  In the class, one type of poem we had to write was a Villanelle.  The following is my villanelle for that class:

Cage

In quiet song, I saw a bird in flight,
Falling dreamily down into its nest;
Safe from freedom, wild dreams, the crows of night.

Mother dreams, I breathe in the wingless night,
My flightless feathers reach for the moon's crest;
In quiet song, I touched a bird in flight.

All the windows are locked, no death tonight.
Mother murmurs, dreaming, "I know what's best."
Safe from freedom, wild dreams, the crows of night.

Twilight dreams make me Icarus in flight,
Yet always beyond the sea's highest crest.
In quiet song, I am a bird in flight.

Mother, do you feel the launching of night,
Wings curled around you, caught in your dream's nest,
Safe from freedom, wild dreams, the crows of night?

I hand in my feathers, forsaking flight,
Giving up beauty, love, and all the rest.
In quiet song, I caged a bird in flight,
Safe from freedom, wild dreams, the crows of night.